Former Nuggets player Arron Afflalo, now with Orlando, posts up former Nuggets player J.R. Smith, now with New York. (Getty Images)

Standing on the Pepsi Center court in an Orlando Magic jumpsuit this morning was a weird kind of feeling for Arron Afflalo.

“It’s different,” he said, grinning.

Because for what seemed like so many years, but in fact was only three, Afflalo was a Nugget. As far as fans were concerned, along with teammates and coaches, he represented most everything a good professional should be.

DALLAS – Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler participated in shootaround this morning, a very positive sign for both the player and the team as he is a little over two weeks away from a possible return to action.

This morning’s work, in advance of the Nuggets game against Dallas tonight, was his first team-oriented drills in months. Chandler has been dealing with a significant hip injury that has taken longer to heal than he originally thought.

Chandler tried to return by the start of the season, but could not. Now, however, he is seemingly on a fast track to getting back in uniform. The forward called his on-court session this morning “real good” and is angling for a Jan. 13 return, a Nuggets home game against Golden State.

“I’m very excited,” Chandler said. “The first time I was excited to play but I was kind of weak and just wasn’t ready. This time around I feel really strong and confident about it.”

He credits work with doctors in Vail with turning the tide.

“When the guys went on the first couple of road trips, I was up in Vail doing physical therapy up there,” Chandler said. “Those guys were really good. They sent the program down to our guys, so both working together, I just feel I had the best program.”

Right now, Chandler says he’s “85-90 percent” and ought to be near or at 100 percent when Jan. 13 rolls around.

“I feel pretty good, actually,” he said.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Evan Fournier (pronounced Forn-yay, which rhymes with my 37th-favorite rapper, Rappin’ 4-Tay), is here in Denver. There was talk about him playing in his native France this season, but Nuggets executive Masai Ujiri has his first-round pick in the states (in fact, to quote “Old School,” in the Sunshine State).

Ujiri explained why the shooting guard, who won’t play much for this deep Denver squad, won’t play overseas:

Second-round pick Quincy Miller signed with the Nuggets today, giving the squad 15 players heading into training camp, which opens on Oct. 2.

It’s understood that on this deep Nuggets team, the 19 year old will likely spend some time in the D-League this season. But the plan is to have the Baylor product in camp and let him develop with Denver’s assistants as much as possible.

The 6-9, 210-pound forward, was the 38th overall selection in the draft, after being named the 2011-12 Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year. He averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in 37 games, helping the Bears reach the Elite Eight.

In a short amount of time, Nuggets executive vice president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri has proven to be as persuasive with players as he has been shrewd with other general managers. In the face of many who believe the Nuggets are doomed in getting top talent to stay in town when they hit free agent status, he’s been able to keep it here.

Still, there is a roll-the-dice quotient to the acquisition of Andre Iguodala that is squirm-worthy for anyone banking on the hyper-athletic small forward being in a Nuggets uniform for years to come.

Nuggets forward Al Harrington left Monday night’s game against Golden State at the end of the third quarter and did not return. Afterward he revealed he has a torn meniscus.

His loss would be devastating to the Nuggets’ bench and locker room, as he’s been one of the team’s best players and leaders all season long. He’s also been durable, playing in all 57 games this season with averages of roughly 14 points and six rebounds, despite nagging injuries all year long.

He had 10 points and one rebound before exiting the Golden State game.

He’s hoping his consistent availablity this season doesn’t come to an end. Harrington, has, in fact already been playing with a torn meniscus, he said. He said he was injured “a couple of games ago.”

Now, he said, both he and team doctors/trainers are exploring “a couple of different options” in terms of treatment. With just two weeks left until the playoffs, Harrington, who added he’s never played on a torn meniscus before, wants to continue to play.

“I’m going to stay in the race,” he said.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

After three weeks, Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari plans to return to game action today for the first time since fracturing his left thumb on March 19.

Gallinari, the Nuggets’ second-leading scorer, confirmed his plan to participate in tonight’s game against Golden State at the Pepsi Center following this morning’s shootaround.

“I’m going to go tonight,” he said. “I’ll see how it feels with contact in the game by being hit on the hand and all of this stuff. So, we’ll see.”

Gallinari missed 10 games with the injury, and still is not 100 percent. But with the Nuggets in the thick of a playoff race and Gallinari now to a point where the pain is at a manageable place, he’ll play tonight as the team looks to bounce back from a loss at Golden State on Saturday night. Expect Gallinari to be in the starting lineup.

Since being traded to the Nuggets on Mar. 15, this has been an audition of sorts for Nuggets center JaVale McGee. And by all rights it has been a success so far. He’s cracked the starting lineup and become a key cog in their success.

The Nuggets have a decision to make in the summer — McGee will be a restricted free agent. His performance now is dictating how coveted he is to this organization and others who are undoubtedly taking notice of McGee’s improved play since the trade.

McGee’s length, athleticism and aggressiveness are his greatest assets. Defensively, there isn’t a shot in the lane he can’t block or alter. Offensively, in the paint there isn’t a ball he can’t get right to the rim, and in fact we’ve already seen dunks over otherwise well-positioned defenders or reach-around layups and other acrobatic shots where his wingspan gives him a distinct advantage.

It’s no wonder Nuggets coaches salivate at his upside, as noted in this piece about McGee written by Benjamin Hochman.

But lets breakdown how McGee gets things done and where he needs to improve:

Only, right now the Nuggets’ reserve point guard is dealing with a right shoulder separation, and doctor’s orders are to law low for at least one game. Miller, though, is insisting it’s only one.

“I can do everything,” said Miller, talking about what his limitations may or may not be on the court. “I don’t know what (doctors) need to see. I can play, but it’s a precaution thing. So I guess I’ll leave it at that.”

Miller has missed just three games in his career, so this will be the fourth. But, he said, he’ll be back on the court on Friday when the Nuggets start a seven-game road trip at Utah.

“I’m sitting out one game,” Miller said. “And that’s it.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Andre Miller can give you a boost on the post-up: At 6-2, 200 Andre Miller has the size to be effective in the post against opposing point guards. But against Oklahoma City he was near unstoppable on the block, posting up bigger players in James Harden and Reggie Jackson on a near regular basis. He had five post-ups in the game and here were the returns – foul, foul, score, score, turnover – an 80 percent success rate. Now, that turnover was the traveling call in overtime as the Nuggets specifically went to him in the post down by three at the time, so that matters most. But Miller on the block was a good idea, and will be in the future. He has not posted up a ton this season, but when Miller has – he’s 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) – he’s generally been good.

Chris Andersen was actually Nuggets’ best player off the bench: No, it doesn’t look the same anymore. Pretty much done with the high-flying and arm-flapping. It doesn’t mean the Birdman was any less effective. Andersen has quietly played good basketball lately and, at a whopping +17, was the Nuggets’ best plus/minus player of the game against OKC – by far. He was 5-of-6 from the field for 11 points, had six rebounds and three blocks, and just generally found himself in the mix all night long. Andre Miller’s double-double of 21 points and 10 assists was gaudiest stat line among Nuggets reserves, but Andersen, in 29 minutes was the team’s second-highest points per possession player (1.57) – only to Kosta Koufos, which leads us to…

… An Aggressive Koufos is the best Koufos: Kosta Koufos was benched against Memphis last Friday for ineffectiveness. He was benched again for the entire second half until overtime on Sunday for…well, we don’t know why because he was the Nuggets’ best points-per possession player at 1.67. He was the Nuggets’ best running big man, constantly beating Oklahoma City defenders down court for uncontested looks at the basket. Everything he accomplished was going toward the rim, whether it was filling the lane or cutting to the hoop or crashing the boards when the shot went up. And decisiveness worked. He did not waste time when received the basketball, he got it up to the rim. It all resulted in 13 points on 6-of-7 from the field with nine rebounds in 13 minutes, making Koufos the Nuggets’ most efficient player of the night.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

After missing one game with a right foot sprain, Ty Lawson proclaimed himself ready for action.

The Nuggets’ starting point guard participated in this morning’s shootaround and says he will play tonight against the Miami Heat.

“It felt good,” said Lawson post-shootaround. “I took a couple of days off and rested it.”

At 16.4 points per game, Lawson is the Nuggets’ second-leading scorer and engine behind the team’s high-octane offense, which scores more points (103.6) than every team in the NBA not named the Miami Heat. Nuggets coach George Karl doesn’t know how healthy a Lawson he’ll get, but he’s going to keep close watch.

“I don’t know,” Karl said. “He was at shootaround, he’s going to play; as well (Danilo Gallinari), as well as Nene. My evaluation is watching them in the game and seeing if they are seemingly into it or seemingly confused by protecting their injury. For me, to be honest with you, I don’t think it’s a game for injured players. If they are injured we’ll probably find that out pretty quick.”

Lawson freely admitted he was going to play in this game no matter what.

“(My foot) would probably have to be broke to miss this game,” Lawson said. “This is the biggest game of the year.”

Asked if he can do everything he needs to do to be successful on the basketball court, Lawson nodded.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I’m pushing it, taking painkillers. I’ll be alright. I can do everything I want to do from jumping, pushing the ball and everything else in between.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

With all due respect to tinkering with offensive schemes, it was the defensive end of the court that doomed the Nuggets in the playoffs last season. And with Kenyon Martin and Wilson Chandler – two top-flight defensive players – not on the roster, conventional wisdom says the Nuggets haven’t gotten better in that department. They’ll need to find cohesion and toughness on that side of the court quickly, which shouldn’t be too difficult given the solid foundation the team laid for itself from the end of last year’s regular season.

Arron Afflalo’s return helps, and Ty Lawson’s quick hands will continue to be a boost in the steals department. Rudy Fernandez has proven in the past he can be a very good defender. Corey Brewer is one of the better defenders in the league, so the perimeter is in good hands.

Interior defense, however, might take some time. Nene is a good on-ball defender and Chris Andersen is expected to get back to his block-happy alter ego, the Birdman. Center Timofey Mozgov isn’t afraid to challenge shots at the rim, but will he be given a chance to play enough minutes to develop and contribute?

By extension, rebounding will be at a premium. Any good defensive possession ends with the rebound after the first missed shot, and the Nuggets were decent in not allowing a ton of offensive boards to opponents last season (10.7, 14th in the NBA). The addition of board-hunter Kenneth Faried helps immensely on the glass, and more is expected from Nene and Andersen. The Nuggets fared well on the boards last year and need a repeat performance to compliment their defense.

2. Can they shoot free throws?

The Nuggets fell apart at the free throw line after the Carmelo Anthony trade in the regular season (71.7 percent from 78.5 percent) and during the playoffs in a first round loss to Oklahoma City (70.7). And nothing was particularly encouraging about the 24-of-38 (63 percent) performance in the first preseason game against Phoenix on Tuesday night.

The sudden inability of this team to hit a high percentage from the charity stripe last year was a surprise to everyone involved given the fact those players are actually good free throw shooters. It needs to be solved, and maybe a bit of confidence is all that’s required. Whatever it is, this of particular importance to coach George Karl’s team, which annually is at, or among, the top in the league in free throw attempts.

3. Will they find a 20-point per night scorer?

The buzzword for this is ‘star.’ It might be better stated this way: Is there a player that can give the team 22-25 points every night out? Ultimately, that’s what the Nuggets need to not just be a good regular season team – which they almost always have been under Karl – but a legitimate threat in the playoffs as well.

The Nuggets do not have a player on the roster that averaged more than 15.6 points per game last season. And while it’s nice to have eight players average between 11 and 16 points per game, as the Nuggets did last season, that formula almost always gets you beat in the playoffs.

Danilo Gallinari was Mr. 15.6 (14.7 ppg after arriving in Denver via trade) and he’ll be given the first shot to be that lead player. Karl and other Nuggets brass flew to Italy to meet with the forward in the spring, prior to the lockout. It wasn’t to hang out. They wanted to clearly define their future plans for Gallo, complete with a workout regimen and let him know he’s the player they expect to rise up and take control on a nightly basis. Gallinari has all the skills, but does he have the alpha dog mentality to assume the role?

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Q: What are the chances the Nuggets’ brass has some inside information on the new CBA, and they plan on using a newly created franchise tag to keep Melo here next year? Obviously it would be against his wish, but it would buy some more time to find the right trade.
—Rob, Denver

A: Rob – I’d say the chances of that are pretty much none. No one knows what shape the new collective bargaining agreement will take.

The two sides are expected to meet over All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles to try and make progress toward a resolution, but they are miles apart on a number of issues at this time.

Pretty cool for Chauncey Billups. He had been struggling with his shot and battling through wrist pain. Of late, he bounced back – and today he was rewarded with the NBA’s player of the week award in the Western Conference (Dwyane Wade — 36.7 points per game — won for the Eastern Conference).

Chauncey averaged 25.3 points last week, in which Denver went 3-0. Similarly impressive was his .639 shooting percentage. He was 11-for-13 from 3-point range (holy moly) and averaged 6.3 assists, too.

At 6-11, 250 pounds Nene is one of the biggest players on the Nuggets roster, yet he’s been so difficult for the team to find.

In the midst of aggressive scorers like Carmelo Anthony, Al Harrington and Chauncey Billups, Nene has sometimes found it difficult to get going on the offensive end himself. To remedy that, the Nuggets put him in the spotlight in their win against New York.

In the game, the team started both halves dumping the ball in to Nene on the block, and he responded with his most aggressive and efficient game of the season, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting highlighted by a couple of monster dunks.

Going forward, don’t be surprised to see more of a concerted effort to get Nene the ball with the intent on having him make a strong move to the rim.

“The big key is finding him a little bit. I think right now we don’t find him as often as we need to find him,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “When we do find him we usually get efficient, effective results. That’s something our whole team has got to understand. Effective, efficient results is better than playing one-on-one and taking tough shots.”

On the season Nene is averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. His rebounds are down by nearly two per game from last season, no doubt due in part to Anthony’s renewed vigor on the glass (9.4 rpg) as well as solid rebounding efforts this season from newcomers Al Harrington (5.6) and Shelden Williams (7.5).

But the Nuggets know they can’t reach their full potential without a steady, significant presence in the post. Nene is the player the team wants in that role on a nightly basis.

“I think that’s an important part of the personality (of the team),” Karl said, “that we get more consistent with his personality being a part of both our offense and our defense.”

Soon after he was signed to a max contract with the New York Knicks in the summer, Amar’e Stoudemire turned from basketball player to recruiter. And after the dust settled on the LeBron James/Dywane Wade/Chris Bosh union, his gaze – along with every Knicks fan’s – turned toward Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony.

Back then he said he’d like to team with Anthony in New York. Today, as he sat in front of assorted media during Knicks shootaround, he wasn’t about to back off of those comments.

“Again, we all love Carmelo here,” Stoudemire said. “We understand what type of player he is and how he can help the team. But we can’t focus on that right now. We have to focus on the situation at hand and try to rack up some wins.”

There is no doubt the star forward has already thought a time or two about what the Knicks might look like with Anthony. New York has limped out of the gate to a 3-7 record and Stoudemire has voiced his displeasure about the situation.

But asked if he has talked to Anthony about trades or anything else about Nuggets’ star’s situation, he said no.

“I haven’t talked to him this season yet,” Stoudemire said. “We text back and forth every now and then about good game, congratulations, things of that nature. But we really haven’t talked about a specific team or situation at all.”

The two are very good friends.

“I love Carmelo,” Stoudemire said. “He’s a good friend of mine. Anytime you could team up with great friends of yours it would be a lot of fun. But again, we both have our individual situations with our particular teams, and we have to focus in on that. So we can’t determine what the near future holds. But anytime you can team up with a good friend, that would be great.”

Anthony is off to a solid start with the Nuggets, averaging a near double-double of 24.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He had the first 20-20 game of his career on Monday night against Phoenix, finishing with 20 points and 22 rebounds.

“I see him more physical this year, to be honest with you,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He had a couple dunks last game that we haven’t seen, and he looks good.”

Because Anthony is playing so well, Stoudemire says it wouldn’t shock him to see Anthony stay in Denver the entire season.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Stoudemire said. “Denver is playing well, and he’s playing well. Still not totally sure how it’s all going to play out.”

Still, Stoudemire warned, “It’ll be tough. As a team you don’t want a player to leave and then you don’t get nothing for him. So it’s a tough decision for any organization. But again, it can happen that way. It happened that way this offseason. So you never know what may happen.”

“I hope not, because it is part of the business, something that you have to deal with daily,” D’Antoni said. “And as soon as you learn that’s just the way it is and understand that basketball speaks, you get on the court do the best you can and understand it’s a business. That’s part of being in the league. Hopefully it hasn’t, but you’d have to ask him.”

With new players like Al Harrington, Shelden Williams and Gary Forbes while injured players Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin are on the bench, Nuggets coach George Karl has played a seemingly never-ending game of mix-and-match with different lineup combinations and rotations. They change depending on a number of constantly evolving variables.

But there’s one lineup where the tinkering may be able to stop: We’ll call it Karl’s Hustle Lineup. The quintet of Ty Lawson, J.R. Smith, Al Harrington, Gary Forbes and Arron Afflalo is doing the trick.

On Thursday those five ushered the Nuggets past the Lakers in the most important stretch of the contest, taking the Nuggets from 95-90 down at 10:03 to 101-95 up at 7:39.

Harrington was the leader.

His defense against Lakers center Pau Gasol gave the Nuggets’ rally staying power by removing the ability to get easy, high-percentage buckets from the Lakers’ arsenal. He fronted Gasol for the majority of the period, which most often discouraged entry passes. On one occasion he tipped away an attempted pass down to Gasol, which sparked a Nuggets fast break.

It forced the Lakers and Gasol to alter a tried-and-true game plan a bit by bringing him up for screen-roll plays. But the Nuggets had those bottled up as well. Once, when Gasol did catch the ball in the post, Harrington forced him across the lane without giving ground. Deterred from getting the shot he wanted the Lakers center passed the ball instead – to a waiting Nuggets player.

The Lakers had five possessions in the period from 10:03 to 7:39, and this is how they went:

*A missed shot and a Nuggets defensive rebound, leading to a fast break

*A Harrington deflection, leading to a Lawson steal of a Matt Barnes pass to Gasol

Four turnovers – three of them steals – zero points. And like that, the Nuggets had an 11-0 run and lead that set them up in prime position to win the game.

In addition to fronting Gasol, the Nuggets trapped Bryant on pick-and-rolls. One trap led to the pass that Smith got a hand on and Forbes picked off. Smith and Lawson had the most active hands of the bunch as they constantly harassed Lakers ballhandlers.

While this might have been the most effective those five have been in any single defensive stretch this young season, it’s by no means the first time they’ve shown the ability to do so. What they give up in height, they’ve made up for in sheer scrappiness. Forbes is a long-armed, instinctive defender; Lawson and Smith both boast quick feet and fast hands; Afflalo is a top-shelf on-ball defender; and Harrington has a sneaky, undervalued combination of strength and quick hands.

Eventually Martin and Andersen will be back, which will alter the dynamic and help improve the Nuggets defense overall. But until they come back, Lawson, Smith, Forbes, Afflalo and Harrington are proving they can not just hold their own, but spark the team on the defensive end.

Thursday, it was that collective that saved the Nuggets and sunk the previously unbeaten Lakers.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.